to take that bold move and say we're going to do more than we have to. more than our words. our actions are going to show that we are in support of women. >> gretchen carlson, i look forward to seeing it tonight. thank you for fighting for so many people on this front. you can watch it tonight "breaking the silence" on lifetime. thank you for joining us today. "at this hour" starts right now. hello, everyone. a remarkable moment unfolding at the white house. a sitting american president forced to address a couple staggering questions. has he ever worked for the russian government. that's one. two, also why is he hiding from even his closest advisers. what he's discussed behind closed doors with vladimir

putin. "the washington post" reporting president trump has taken extraordinary measures to prevent detailed records of his face to face meetings with the russian president from being shared on one occasion even seizing the notes made by his own interpreter. why? what is he so concerned about? here's what the president said leaving the white house a short time ago. >> i never worked for russia. you know that answer better than anybody. i never worked for russia. not only did i never work for russia, i think it's a disgrace that you even asked that question because it's a whole big fat hoax. >> joining me right now from the white house, be abby phillip. what did he say today? >> reporter: it was a do-over by president trump on that question when he was asked the same question he declined to give a yes or no answer to say whether he had worked for russia. but the president also tried to

downplay the premises of this story which is when it comes to vladimir putin and russia, he has taken extraordinary measures, the kind that his aides don't see him taking with other countries, to withhold information about what's happening in these one-on-one meetings. he likened it to the conversations he has with other leaders and downplayed it significantly to reporters on the south lawn. listen. >> i have those meetings one-on-one with all leaders including the president of china, including president of japan, abe, we have those meetings all the time. no big deal. >> reporter: the problem is that his aides do believe based on the reporting that's been out there over the weekend that there is something different about how the president deals with this taking the notes from an interpreter. on five separate occasions plump has met with vladimir putin and each time an extraordinary amount of secrecy has been reserved for those kinds of meetings. the question is why. the president didn't really answer the question about

whether or not he would be willing to allow those notes to be revealed or why he confiscated them in the first place. what we are hearing from white house aides, however, is that they believe that the president was concerned about leaks. that this was part of his reaction to a number of leaks going on in his administration at the time. but the problem is it's not the same as with the president of japan, for example, or the president of china. trump tru president trump is dealing with russia in a different way and that's creating problems and an extraordinary moment on the lawn where the president has to deny that he was working for a foreign government for the first two years of his presidential administration. >> one thing at least right now they don't seem to be disputing is that the president seized these records, which i find a very important moment. give us five minutes and they will. at this moment it does not seem they're disputing that fact in this story. thanks so much. great to see you. president trump faces other

troubling questions today about his relationship with russia. some even coming from the fbi. "the new york times" first reporting that after president trump fired james comey, law enforcement officials considered an unthinkable question. was the sitting president working on behalf of the kremlin? so serious the question was that they began an investigation. according to transcripts obtained by cnn, james baker, then the bureau's general counsel, told congress that fbi officials were considering whether trump was acting at the behest of and following directions somehow executing their will. it seems that there's something of a debate going on amongst law enforcement officials on this. what more do the transcripts tell us? >> these were about a half dozen or so fbi agents, personnel from the fbi, senior most level, and really what these transcripts in review of which was obtained by

cnn, two officials who gave closed door congressional interviews reveal that on one end there was the idea that trump fired comey at the behest of russia and then the other was the possibility that trump was completely innocent and was acting within the bounds of his executive authority. now, james baker, as you mentioned, who is the top lawyer for james comey at the fbi at the time described thinking this way as it related to russia that that was one extreme. the other extreme was the possibility that the president was completely innocent and we discussed that too, he said. there's a range of things this could possibly be he told members of congress. we need to investigate because we don't know whether the worst case scenario is possibly true or the president is totally innocent and we need to get this thing over with and so he can move forward with his agenda, he told members of congress. in another interview from another fbi lawyer which we've all come to know and who has been attacked by the president,

lisa page, he mentioned her today, she's come under attack for her texts with now former fired fbi agent. she told members the fbi had considered investigating trump for some time. she said it's not that it could not have been done. this case had been a topic of discussion for some time. the waiting on was an indecision and a cautiousness on the part of the bureau with respect to what to do and whether there was sufficient predication to open. that what she's talking about there is open this investigation. what these transcripts of these two testifying before congress shows us is that this was not really such a simple decision for the fbi. they thought about it. they deliberated. finally after seeing what happened to the former fbi director, they went ahead and opened this investigation, which we should note now all lives with robert mueller. >> as does pretty much everything else.

thank you so much. i appreciate it. i want to talk more now about that "washington post" report that the president went to considerable lengths to cover up the conversation. he ordered an interpreter not to reveal details of the conversation. democrats are reviving efforts to subpoena those materials. adam schiff tweeting this. last we're we sought to obtain the interpreter's notes or testimony from the private meeting between trump and putin. the reporter who broke this story is joining me right now. national security correspondent for "the washington post."

good to see you as always. amazing reporting you have. thanks for coming on. you write that president trump went through extraordinary lengths to cover up this meeting. what's extraordinary about it? >> no president has done diplomacy like this with any world leader. presidents meet with all world leaders all the time. they bring an interpreter or one and more senior aides including one designatined as a note take. trump doesn't do anything like that. he keeps his aides on the outside of his room. he doesn't listen to them going into the meeting. he doesn't tell them what happened coming out of the meeting. that would be disconcerting all on its own but this is russia. these are his meetings with the leader of the country that interfered in the 2016 election

specifically to help him win the white house. that is why this is so important. >> and this was not one time as you lay out in your piece. had this is part of a broader pattern of behavior when it comes to putin for president trump. >> absolutely. i mean, even on that same occasion where he takes his interpreter's notes later that evening they have banquet for world leaders, trump leaves his seat and goes over to sit down with vladimir putin for some extended period of time. he doesn't even tell his aides later about that meeting. they're in the dark about his conversation with putin where there's no american presence. there's no even american interpreter in that case. >> and here's the thing about it. it's one thing to not allow anyone else in the room. kind of on the fronte end makin a pro-active decision about that. it's after the fact taking the step to take the notes from the

interpreter and say do not share the information from this meeting. that is something completely different that does suggest at the very least the president was considered about what it would look like if that information came out and you can take steps to what other things that could suggest. have you gotten any indication if the president did this after could conversations with any other foreign leader? >> no. i don't know of another case with any other foreign leader where he's seeking out and taking notes from the interpreter afterward. even if this case, the only reason with know about this occasion is that his own aides, his own subordinates went to that interpreter later trying to get a read out of what had happened in trump's meeting with putin in that case and they were told by the interpreter, no. he told me i'm not allowed to talk about it and he took my notes. so it's not just trying to keep this out of the public view. he's trying to keep the senior most officials in his own administration from knowing what's going on behind that

door. >> we heard from kellyanne conway who seemed to suggest that the records could still exist. do you have an indication of those notes still exist? >> i don't know what became of those notes taken by that interpreter. i mean, we should keep in mind that interpreters are not there to take detailed comprehensive notes of a conversation. they're scribbling down things as they're just trying to translate between russian and english on the fly. so those photos wouldn't be comprehensive necessarily to begin with. because of how trump does business, they're the only written record anybody has of what was said in there. >> it's still baffling. one of the president's initial reactions over the weekend was saying anyone could have listened to that meeting. that meeting is open for grabs. i don't think what anyone knows what that means right now. clearly as we can tell from your reporting, that is not the case. greg, thanks for coming in. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. this just in. special counsel robert mueller should be allowed to finish his work though that statement coming from the man president

trump has picked to replace jeff sessions as attorney general ahead of his confirmation hearing to start tomorrow. how will the president respond? this is important news coming in. trump shoots down a top republican ally in the senate saying he will not support lindsey graham's proposal to reopen the government for a short period of time. what that means going forward. that's next. red lobster's new weekday five days.s here: five deals. for fifteen dollars get a different deal every weekday

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on my watch, bob will be allowed to complete his work. that's what attorney general nominee bill barr plans to tesa tomorrow. he's been critical of the

investigation and that's why this is a really big question. this is a well big moment. let's go to jessica schneider for more. what do we know ahead of barr's testimony tomorrow about what he's likely to say? >> reporter: we know the hearing will be contentious. because of that william barr is releasing his opening remarks about 24 hours in advance possibly in a quest to tamp down on this flurry of aggressive questioning that he could face. so the headline here, william barr will pledge to let special counsel robert mueller finish his report and continue unimpeded with the russia investigation. barr will make these remarks official tomorrow morning beginning at 9:30 and in them we've gotten the whole list of what he will say here. he says he will say that it will be vitally important for mueller to complete his investigation and barr will continue on and say i will not permit partisan politics, personal interest, or

any other improper consideration to interfere with this or any other investigation. of course, kate, democrats have raised a lot of skepticism about barr given his previous comments in both op-eds and even in unsolicited memo he submitted to doj that in his view the president could not have obstructed justice to fire fbi director james comey since it was within his authority. but barr now coming out in front of those criticisms releasing four pages worth of his testimony in which he will say the public should be told of the results of mueller's work and he also will say that his goal will be to provide as much transparency as he can consistent with the law. bill barr coming out in front of all this saying that he will stand behind the mueller investigation. he writes in his testimony he's known bob mueller for 30 years. saying he will stand by it. he wants the report released publicly and that he will not impede this investigation. kate? >> all right. jessica, great to see you.

thank you so much. a lot to come on that tomorrow. let me bring in my panel right now. a former fbi special agent and also a national security analyst was a senior adviser to the national security adviser near the obama administration. great to see you. real quick, when bill barr says this on my watch bob will be allowed to complete his work, how important is that? >> it's very important. i think it is reassuring to the american people. you know, he is the former ag. he understands the values and principles of the department of justice as an institution. i also think the fact that he has a professional relationship with robert mueller, i'm sure he respects him a lot. now, let's remember that under the special counsel regulations, if he does try to stop anything that mueller does, that does trigger a reporting requirement and it would go to congress. i think there is an extra layer of transparency that is ensured

should he take steps for whatever reason. >> interesting. much more to come on that tomorrow. but on today right now, samantha, greg miller i had on from "the washington post" reporting about how the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal notes and information about his face to face meetings with vladimir putin from being public or going to his closest advisers. what would these photos look like? what would they contain? >> kate, i have planned, executed and memorialized presidential meetings and there's various steps that past presidents have taken. you plan a meeting manifest to ensure there are human witnesses in the room that can corroborate what happened and promote your team and empower them and show a foreign leader you want your own team there and you have a note

taker present that can write down a written record of what happened that can be filed in the presidential archive because that is a foundational document that sets a u.s. narrative about what happened and it can be incorporated into actual policy planning going forward. absent any of those steps, president trump is letting russia set the narrative about what happened. he's really saying take my word for it or take vladimir putin's. the question is really why? he didn't do this once. he did this five times. keep in mind that every time he met with president putin, the intelligence community would have given him a briefing on what to expect and russia's ongoing attack on our country. the question is why does he keep doing this? what is the intend behind it? and based upon all that, we should all be asking is the fbi counterintelligence investigation still ongoing based upon all of these red flags. >> that might be something that bill barr should have the answer

to tomorrow. when it comes to the interpreter's notes or the interpreter themselves, there's now a big conversation that is reigniting again if there should be a subpoena issued and is it correct for the interpreter and what that would mean. what do you think about this? >> yeah, so with regard to the notes themselves, i want to point out that those actually should be preserved legally under something called the presidential records act. so those should not be destroyed. that would not be in compliance with the law. just to sam's point, i want to add that having a briefing with your team and particularly with your intelligence team after a meeting like that would help, you know, enhance our intelligence capabilities by knowing what our adversary is interested in and what he asked about. he's hamstrung our ic in some ways. in regards to the subpoena,

there are thorny legal issues here. going back to president george washington, there has been a traditional pushback in the separation of power principles against congress intruding on the president's diplomatic role as a head of state and meeting with other heads of state and those can be sensitive conversations. we don't want congress to be able to harass a president by intruding on those all the time. however, here there is a legitimate national security concern based upon all of the things that sam just said. i think that it would raise some big legal separation of power issues to issue a subpoena. i expect the white house would assert some kind of privilege over them and then we would have to see if it got litigated where the courts came down on it. >> that would be a real big one. likely could be a real big fight that is actually coming. asha, great to see you. sam, appreciate it. thank you, guys. the house intelligence and foreign affairs committees are now planning on this issue to

meet today over how to subpoena those notes from president trump's interpreter. can they? the chairman of the foreign affairs committee is joining us next. potato farmer. did you ever notice that the very first bite of every great meal is always the potato? that's why it should always be an idaho potato. only genuine idaho potatoes have the perfect taste and texture to get your meal started right. whoa. hey look, it's huge. oops, gotta go. hey, wait. come back. with expedia, i saved when i added a hotel to our flight. so even when she grows up, she'll never outgrow the memory of our adventure. unlock savings when you add select hotels to your existing trip. only with expedia.

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records of interpreter president during president trump's meeting wi with russia's president vladimir putin. let's discuss now. mr. chairman, thank you for coming in. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> we have this reporting into cnn staffers meeting to look into -- return to this idea of trying to possibly issuing subpoenas with regard to the interpreter's notes. do you think you have the authority to get the notes? >> i think ultimately. that's not what we're up to yet. we want to work together with the intelligence committee. there's no sense to have two investigations going on. so we want to work with them. no decision has been made on subpoenas or anything else. we're going to not do this cavalierly. we're going to put our heads together and do it together. i look forward to working with chairman schiff and others that may be involved with jurisdiction. what we're not going to do is

sit back and do nothing. we're going to try to get to the bottom of this. >> regardless if the subpoenas would come from intel or foreign affairs as that will get worked out on kind of where jurisdiction lies, do you think house investigators have the legal authority to ask for these notes from any meeting between the president and vladimir putin? >> i think we do. you talk in the foreign affairs committee, you talk about foreign affairs and what could be more of foreign affairs than the leader of the united states meeting with the leader of another country. what really is disturbing about all this, forget about subpoenas, yes, no, whatever, is the fact that we all know that the russians interfered in our 2016 election. we know they interfered to try to help donald trump win. and since that time there have been meetings between putin and

trump and we don't know what went on. it's so many months past and we don't know what went on. you just scratch your head and say what is it? why is it that the president of the united states seems to go against our allies like the uk or germany or france and cozy up to putin. it makes no sense whatsoever. yes. you want to try to improve relations with your adversardve. no one is saying you shouldn't do that. the question is why is everything so secretive. >> what was your reaction to "the washington post" reporting that after the face to face in 2017 between trump and putin that trump took the notes from the interpreter and told the interpreter not to discuss anything that was in the meeting with even his top advisers in administration. >> it's disturbing of course. if it's true, it's disturbing. we want to get to the bottom of it. we want to find out what's true and what's not true.

it just doesn't past the smell test. there's something there that isn't right. it's our obligation. we are a co-equal branch of government. it's important to say that. in our constitution the legislative branch, which is congress, is article i. we're listed before the executive is listed. investigating and acting as a co-government and not behold to the executive is what we're supposed to do. checks and balances. >> rex tillerson was in that meeting. are you interested in subpoenaing him to get information? he would be the other person in the room? >> we are casting a wide net. we haven't made any decisions. congress is just -- the new congress has started. we've had this terrible shutdown. and all of the committee members have not yet been appointed on all the committees. we're behind a little bit.

there was president bush's funeral. nothing has been definitely put down on how we're going to do it. we are going to do it. we're going to work together because we shouldn't be at cross purposes. >> i've seen both republican and democratic staffers of previous administrations who say that an interpreter and their notes, that could and very likely would try to assert executive privilege over it. how do you argue that it is not covered by executive privilege? >> well, you know, all things are on the table. i would like in a perfect world not to look at what an interpreter wrote. i would prefer not to do that. we have to see what we can find out. if i had a choice, i would rather not do that with the interpreter. we may have no choice. we'll have to see down the road what happens. we want to get to the truth. >> needless to say, the administration -- if the president seized these records, they're not denying that right now. they've been asked about that

all morning. they're not denying the president took the records from the interpreter which i think i could make the leap to say the president doesn't want to hand them over to congress. that is likely going to require a subpoena. would you promise that if they don't hand them over that in some way, shape, or form that's coming down the line? >> i wouldn't make promises in terms of what we're going to do. the promise i would make is we're going to look at this thoroughly by the best means possible. it's very important. our elections -- you go back to the 2016 elections were definitely tampered with by the russians and by putin to the benefit of president trump. the question really is who knew what and when and was it done? we haven't really found that out. was it collusion with the trump people? there's a lot about putin that we don't know about and we need to find out about. >> and it led people to restranra very strange question being asked to

the president. the president had to answer that law enforcement had began an investigation after james comey was fired and began an investigation into whether the president of the united states was working on behalf of the russians after the comey firing. he said today when asked about it that he never worked for russia. do you believe him? >> well, it's unthinkable an american president would work for russia. so i hope -- i'd like to believe him. we're going to try to find out. >> mr. chairman, thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> a big job ahead of you. we'll follow it closely. thank you so much. coming up for us, president trump rejects a new republican proposal to reopen the government for a short period of time to try to negotiate as a new cnn poll shows that most americans right now are blaming the president for the shutdown. that's next. iate the military family and it really shows. with all that usaa offers why go with anybody else? we know their rates are good, we know that they're always going to take care of us. it was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago.

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welcome to day 24 of your government shutdown. it's now the longest in american history and gettingso how close and congress to ending this historic impasse? is this going to come down to him declaring a national emergency? here is the president on those questions today. >> i'm not looking to call a national emergency. this is so simple we shouldn't have to. now, i have the absolute legal right to call it. but i'm not looking to do that. i don't know if we're close to a deal. this should be the easiest deal we've ever seen.

we're talking about border security. who can be against it? >> s in same place. there's no end in sight. there's plenty of blame to go around. joining me right now is jeremy and mark. jeremy, i want to start with you. you have new reporting of the president's thinking on this. he believes he's winning the pr battle over the shutdown. what have you learned? >> the president seems to be digging in on of a government shutdown and specifically on his demand for a border wall. according to a source familiar with his conversations over the past 24 hours, the president has said that he believes he is winning this public relations battle with the democrats. believing that he can ultimately pressure democrats into supporting his call for border wall funding. and you may ask where is this coming from. there's been a slew of polls over the weekend showing that a majority of americans are blaming the president and not democrats for this shutdown. but the president is grabbing onto one particular piece of

polling data in the abc ne news/"the washington post" poll that there is support for the wall. he believes he can win on the merits of border security and this call for a barrier at the u.s./mexico border. again, the other polling that we have from cnn and "the washington post" and various outlets say most americans are blaming the president and not democrats for the shutdown. >> exhibit 475 they believe the polls when they like them and don't like them when they don't like them. is this why it seems that the president is -- i don't know. i'm probably reading too far into it. today he seemed to be moving an inch away from declaring an emergency declaration or saying something like that leaving the white house. >> i think he said that with the idea that he very well could do

so. he also noted that he has the absolute legal right to call a state of emergency if he chooses to do so. that's obviously up for discussion because a lpeop did,s and what have you. i think what president trump is trying to do is bide time. right now he has put himself into a corner. he doesn't have any way out of trying to get the government back open unless it looks like he's caving to democrats. at some point you have to wonder is it worth doing that? is it worth taking a hit right now, president trump, in order to try to fight another day. right now he doesn't seem like he's willing to do so. in fact, we could come to this situation where he does call a national emergency. >> i keep returning to bide time for what? it's not like it gets better as this thing happens. this thing does not age well like a fine wine. jeremy, let me play quickly the suggestion that came up from

lindsey graham yesterday on the sunday morning show. donald trump sometime ally on what could be a way out. >> before he pulls the plug on the legislative option and i think we're almost there, i would urge him to open up the government for a short period of time, like three weeks, before he pulls the plug. see if we can get a deal. if we can't at the end of three weeks, all bets are off. see if he wican do it by himsel through the emergency powers. >> the president rejected that this morning. is this where this is headed? how much pressure -- the pressure continues to mount not only on president and democrats but especially republicans in the senate to figure a way out of this. >> last week it seemed like the president was inching toward these off ramps talking about declaring a national emergency. lindsey graham and other allies of the president were in his ear suggesting this move to temporarily reopen the government or to perhaps use

other alternative sources of funding and now the president this morning is rejecting those possible off-ramps and digging in his heels to try to win out this public relations battle with democrats because that's ultimately what it's going to come down to are most americans blaming the president or democrats? so far the president appears to be losing that battle if you look at most of the polls coming out this week. the president is holding fast to this idea that at the end of the day he can win that battle and he has the winning argument with border security and this wall. that remains to be seen, kate. >> all right. great to see you guys. i really appreciate it. than thanks, jeremy. thanks, mark. federal workers aren't the only ones feeling impact of government shutdown. i'll talk to a fourth generation farmer who says he is also paying a big price right now. our big idaho potato truck is out there somewhere

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. any moment now president trump is expected to touch down in new orleans. he'll be speaking there at the american farm bureau's national convention. the speech comes at a turbulent time for farmers across the country. for one, the trade war with china is putting the squeeze on crop prices across country. and two, the double whammy, is now delaying relief payment that president trump promised to help farmers during this trade standoff. one of those farmers feeling that double hit right now is john boyd jr. his family has been farming for generations. he joins me now. thank you for coming in. >> thank you for having me. >> you're a soybean farmer.

you're your family is known for soybeans. what impact has the shutdown had on you permanently? >> we can't get the relief check for farmers. it's put off our planting by a week. right now in 2012 i was selling a bushel of soybeans for $6 a bu -- $16 a bushel. today i'm selling them for $8 a bushel. now the government is closed and we desperately need a subsidy check. people need to understand it's not a whole lot, it's $1.65 a bushel, roughly $15,000. but that's a lot of money for my farming operation, and this

president hasn't shown the leadership to bring this country together both racially, and he hasn't shown the leadership to bring our country together politically, and that's something that's really hurting our country right now and hurting my personal family, my personal farming operation. >> mr. boyd, it is very clear you're not happy with the president's decisions on multiple fronts. >> yes. >> i do wonder when it comes to this shutdown, what is your message right now to the president and to lawmakers as they are not fighting over crop prices, they're not fighting over farm subsidies. they're fighting over a wall at the border. >> and quite frankly, we don't need a wall. and the president needs to be mindful that the same people he's trying to keep out of this country are the same people that clean his hotel rooms, that work in his resorts, that manicure his golf courses and things. people are looking for a better

life for their children and families. yes, they should come to this country through the laws already on the books, i definitely agree with that. but the way the president is going about this and the way he talks about these persons is really horrific. again, these are the people that work in his companies. these are people that have been paid by his hotels for years, swept his floors and kept his properties up. operate with dignity and open up this government right now, put federal employees back to work and put my farming operation back to work. that's my message to the president. >> trump at one point was saying this could drag on over a year. what would that mean? how much longer can you hang on? what are your options if they don't open the government up? >> that's the issue for me personally right now. it's a struggle. and we've struggled to obtain loans and subsidies from the united states department of agriculture for decades, and i

applied for the soybean payment. i am a soybean producer. i was qualified, eligible, and i haven't got my payment. and it appears to me for small scale farmers in this country, payments always come slow, and for the large-scale producers, payments come quickly. as a matter of fact, i should be receiving already my second check from the government and i haven't even gotten the first one. and i've reached out as president of the national black farmers association, i've reached out to secretary of agriculture purdue and requested a sit-down meeting and that request has went on deaf ears. i visited with every ag secretary in this country since the carter administration. and this administration has turned a deaf ear to african-american farmers and small scale farmers alike in this country. >> when did you put in that request? >> well, basically that i would like to meet and talk with secretary purdue and ask him what is he going to do to get

crop prices up for family farmers. what is he going to do to expedite payment to family farmers like myself who are hurting right now. he's not speaking to the american farm bureau, and i know those farmers are going to support the president. most of them are republicans -- >> and you put in that request and you have not heard back to meet with him? >> i've not heard back. basically what we've been hearing from the ag secretary is he's too busy. and if he's too busy to meet with the constituents that he needs to be representing, then he shouldn't be ag secretary. that's my message to secretary p perdue. we would like to have a sit-down meeting with the secretary. >> mr. boyd, thank you for coming in. we'll follow up and see if that will maybe happen. we'll also see what happens if the shutdown continues. appreciate it. be right back. liberty mutual accident forgiveness

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welcome to "inside politics." i'm phil mattingly. john king is off. president trump is on his way to new orleans this hour to speak at a farmers convention. that is new orleans, louisiana as he tweeted this morning. there is a field of questions not on the plate for farmers but whether or not he is working for russians. clemson